Synthesis of cellulose-L-tyrosine-SiO2/ZrO2 hybrid nanocomposites by sol-gel process and its potential

Abstract

Cellulose is an excellent natural biopolymer that can be modified to organic-inorganic hybrid nanocomposites by connecting nanomaterials to hydroxyl structure to improve the thermal, morphological, optical and biological properties. Based on the unique properties of oxide materials, we selected SiO2 and ZrO2, which has a large bandgap and a high dielectric constant. To modify the cellulose structure, we used an in-situ sol-gel process to form a cellulose-L-tyrosine (CE-L-tyr) and further synthesized hybrid cellulose-L-tyrosine-SiO2/ZrO2 nanocomposite materials by gamma-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (gamma-APTES) as coupling agent in the presence of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and zirconium isopropoxide. The cellulose-L-tyrosine-SiO2/ZrO2 hybrid nanocomposites were characterized by FTIR, XPS, XRD, UV, TGA, DSC, SEM, EDX and TEM measurements. The different analysis results show the optical transparency, thermal stability, and control morphology of hybrid nanocomposites. From antimicrobial test, CE-L-tyr-SiO2/ZrO2 hybrid nanocomposites exhibit stronger activity against Bacillus cereus and E. coli than that Lactobacillus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.